It Occurs To Me That I Am America

Eight Italian artists and four curators speak to contemporary art in New York in an exhibit which casts a spotlight on artists and curators who, for all their aesthetic differences, have all spent years exploring the city in their work. The spirit of the show is embodied by Allen Ginsberg’s 1956 poem “America,” in which the Beat Generation guru ironically probed America’s post-WWII generation.

This group of expat artists poses similar political and cultural questions about a country toward which they feel a belonging, even if by adoption only, as the Cultural Institute seeks to spark a conversation between them. Ludovica Capobianco, Alessandro Facente, Veronica Santi and Giulia Trabaldo Togna came together to choose works whose focus was unified

yet diverse. The large luminous rooms on Park Avenue afford 360-degree views of these stylistically, linguistically, dimensionally different artworks.

Like the more descriptive creations of photographer Renato D’Agostin and painter Matteo Callegari. Or Arianna Carossa’s site-specific installation, which speaks equally to spectators and the space itself. Gian Maria Tosatti’s Polaroids, on the other hand, explore the relationship between architecture and visual art, while Maria Domenica Rapicavoli, Danilo Correale and Andrea Mastrovito make more politically engaged contributions. And Alessandro Del Pero revisits classical art. Variety exists among the four curators too, who have followed very different career paths. There are those who, like Alessandro Facente, take a more academic approach to art; others more closely involved in the market and the art gallery scene, like Ludovica Capobianco; still others like Giulia Trabaldo Togna who look at contemporary art from a modern perspective; and finally those who represent the more independent, less institutional side of curating, like Veronica Santi.